By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON (Reuters) - Western governments lashed out at theextension of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest,but the outrage at Myanmar's military rulers was tempered byconcern over disrupting aid flows to desperate cyclone victims.
The former Burma has been promised millions of dollars inWestern aid after Cyclone Nargis, but this cut no ice with thegenerals regarding the opposition leader, who has been underhouse arrest or in prison for nearly 13 of the last 18 years.
Officials drove to Suu Kyi's lakeside Yangon home onTuesday to read out an extension order in person, but it wasunclear whether the extension was for six months or a year.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who just returned toNew York from a weeklong aid mission in Myanmar, expresseddisappointment but refrained from sharp criticism.
"The sooner restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi and otherpolitical figures are lifted, the sooner Myanmar will be ableto move toward ... restoration of democracy and full respectfor human rights," he said.
He added that his special envoy for Myanmar, IbrahimGambari, would raise the issue of Suu Kyi with the junta.
Western nations were more forthright.
U.S. President George W. Bush said he was "deeply troubled"by the extension and called for the more than 1,000 politicalprisoners in Myanmar to be freed. However, the State Departmentsaid it would not affect U.S. cyclone aid.
The 62-year-old Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy(NLD) won a 1990 poll by a landslide only to be denied power bythe military, which has ruled the impoverished country for 46years.
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldnersaid "a historic opportunity was missed to give a sign ofreconciling political life in Myanmar at a time when nationaland social cohesion, and solidarity and dialogue are moreneeded than ever."
NO CONCESSIONS
Few had expected Suu Kyi to be released, but the extensionwas a reminder of the ruling military's refusal to make anyconcessions on the domestic political front despite itsgrudging acceptance of foreign help after the May 2 cyclone.
Hours before the extension, police arrested 20 NLD memberstrying to march to Suu Kyi's home.
Three weeks after the cyclone's 120 mph (190 kph) winds andsea surge devastated the delta, the United Nations said it hadraised roughly 60 percent of its initial $200 million (101million pound) target for aid for Myanmar and aid workers weregetting more access.
"We've reached just over a million people with some kind ofaid," U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes toldreporters.
Junta supremo Senior General Than Shwe promised U.N. chiefBan last week that he would allow all legitimate foreign aidworkers access to victims across the country.
Holmes said he did not know if all roadblocks had beenremoved, but the situation was better.
"There's still a lot of people out there who have receivednothing or certainly not enough," he said.
In the delta, thousands of beggars line the roads, anddroves of children shout "Just throw something!" at passingvehicles.
Witnesses say many villages have received no outside help,and the waterways of the former Burma's "rice bowl" remainlittered with bloated and rotting animal carcasses and corpses.
Much of the blame for the aid delay rests with the junta,which has been reluctant to admit a large-scale internationalrelief effort for fear that would loosen the grip on power thearmy has held since a 1962 coup.
Nonetheless, diplomats and aid agencies see some signs of ashift in the stance of the reclusive junta.
State-controlled media on Tuesday praised U.N. agencies fortaking prompt action to provide relief supplies after thecyclone, which left 134,000 people dead or missing.
(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau at the UnitedNations; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Darren Schuettler andAlex Richardson)
